As expected, Facebook has launched a Subscribe button for websites, a social plugin any site owner can add to give visitors the option to subscribe to contributors in one click. For example, if ZDNet were to implement the button, you (the reader) would be able to subscribe to my (the journalist) public Facebook status updates. This is assuming two things happen: I have turned the feature on my Facebook account, and I have let ZDNet put such a button on my articles.
The Subscribe button for websites works just like the recently-added Subscribe button on Facebook; once clicked, the subscriber will begin seeing the public posts of the person they have subscribed to in his or her News Feed, alongside updates from their friends and the Pages they have Liked. Similar to the Like button, the Subscribe button can be easily added using XFBML or an iframe.
The XFBML version uses the JavaScript SDK, and provides more versatility, such as dynamic resizing, and the ability to act on subscribe events in real time. Here’s the XFBML version for my Facebook profile:
<fb:subscribe href="https://www.facebook.com/emil.protalinski" width="450"></fb:subscribe>
Here’s the HTML5-compliant version for my profile:
<div class="fb-subscribe"
data-href="https://www.facebook.com/emil.protalinski" data-width="450">
</div>
Here’s the iframe version for my profile:
<iframe src="//www.facebook.com/plugins/subscribe.php?
href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Femil.protalinski
&width=450&appId=APP_ID" scrolling="no"
frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;"
allowTransparency="true">
</iframe>
Last but not least, here’s my attempt to actually use the button:
